Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Breaking News: Three Students Arrested for Trespassing at DQ University

The Vanguard responding to reports that students at DQ University had been arrested for allegedly trespassing went to the campus this afternoon to find it for the most abandoned and empty. However, at the entrance a number of the students who witnessed events spoke to us.

One of the students, a female, told the Vanguard:

"Early this morning there were arrests that happened, three of our students were arrested for trespassing supposedly."

The Sheriff's deputies entered the grounds this morning. Some of the students came out to find out what was going on and were arrested at that time. But other students who remained inside the dorms were neither arrested nor told to leave according to those who stayed behind.

"The cops they went around through the building without a warrant and they were searching for more students. All the doors are locked right now."

According to a student identified as Steve:

"I woke up and some of the other guys they woke me up, board members were standing outside and we all tried to get everyone together in the dining hall... As we were having our meeting the cops came, sheriff I guess, Yolo County and we started locking the doors because we didn't want them to come in."

However, three of the guys went out to talk to the Sheriff's Deputies.

"Those three guys went out to talk to the cops and see why they were here. I was on the second floor with a video camera."

They were just trying to figure out what was going on.

"The cops they've been here before, but they've never arrested anyone."

There were separate complaints about use of force. The student had received a text from a fellow classmate saying that the Sheriff's had arrested him.

The female student told the Vanguard:

"They were very forceful. Five cops took him down and he's a very skinny, passive, gentle young person and he didn't even resist or anything at all. They just arrested him along with two other students."

Steve agreed.

"They started really forcefully gathering students, arresting them, taking them down... One of the guys, he was just trying to explain to the cops what was going on here and how we had just as much right to be here just as anybody else, because it's native land and everything... So he was just out there explaining to the cops, they didn't come with a warrant, they didn't come with any legal papers, they said they had some, but we kept asking for it but they never showed it to us."

When the students refused to leave, they were arrested.

"Five guys took down Chris, he's a pretty skinny guy and they were very forceful with him."

The events of today are part of a continuing dispute between the students and the new board.

"This is part of an ongoing psychological warfare being conducted by people on the board that for some reason or other don't want us running programs here or being on campus."

According to the female student,

"I'm not sure why trespassing, we have as much right to be here as the board does. There's not any law or treaty that states that we cannot be here. So I'm not sure what grounds they were arrested on."

In 2005 the school lost it accreditation and since then the board and the students have been struggling to get along.

Last Saturday tensions increased during a public board meeting when the students tried to bring cameras to the public board meeting.

"This Saturday we had a board meeting and they attacked us. It was quite funny because they didn't want the video cameras in. We're allowed to have video cameras in a public forum, a public board meeting. So we're not quite sure what that was about."

Members of the board allegedly assaulted the students grabbing them by the arms and by the camera. One of the witnesses believes that a student has actually filed charges against the board for that alleged assault.

Meanwhile the students told the Vanguard that they were not ordered to not return, so we shall see how this situation continues to develop.

Contributors

About The People's Vanguard of Davis

"The People's Vanguard of Davis has rapidly grown to represent, to the Davis political establishment, a dangerous avenue of free political expression that can reach into every home with an internet connection."---Davisite